


They Were Just Boys

by fishwriter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Drabble, Falling Out of Love, James Potter/Lily Evans - Freeform, Kissing, M/M, MWPP, One-Shot, Sappy Prongsfoot, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship, Unrequited Love, the first war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 08:32:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7525735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishwriter/pseuds/fishwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were just two boys who met on the Hogwarts Express, two boys who would love each other the rest of their lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They Were Just Boys

**Author's Note:**

> I just got this idea at school and had to write it. So I wrote it on my phone throughout the day. Sorry if anything's wrong or wonky~

They were just boys who met by chance on the Hogwarts Express, sporting the same brand of mischief, the same hunger for adventure. It was like they'd discovered a long lost brother in each other, and from that moment they were inseparable. 

 

When Professor McGonagall saw one without the other, she didn't worry that they were rowing. She instead knew that she'd see them both in detention that night for whatever scheme one was setting up while the other distracted her. They were just boys when they'd taken to calling her “Minnie” in their third year, and the flush that suffused her face was only half rage, for she had to admit she found herself endeared to these boys.

 

They were just boys sharing a bed at night, since the first night James had heard Sirius whimper in his sleep, tangling the sheets as he tossed and turned from nightmares he refused to speak about. When James slept curled around him, Sirius could breathe, he could feel at home like he never did at his house, he could feel safe.

 

Still, neither of them were surprised when Sirius’s lips sought James’s in the quiet darkness, one night early into their fourth year, easy and languid, like they had done this a thousand times before, hands combing through hair, gripping and tugging, their tongues searching, fervent, needy, as their breathing grew heavier. Their foreheads pressed together, eyes hazy with sleep, and Sirius murmured, “I love you,” his lips whispering over James’s cheek. 

 

“I love you, too, Sirius.” They slept tangled up with each other, warm and peaceful, knowing that no matter how dark the world got, they would always have this. 

 

No one was surprised when the boys held hands through the corridors between classes, or when they were found asleep in each others’ arms in the library. No one was surprised when they started snogging in a dimly lit corner of the Three Broomsticks after sweet talking Rosmerta into letting them have “just a little” firewhiskey. It was as if everyone, including them, had known they were meant to be from the second they had met on the Hogwarts Express. 

 

The surprise came subtly and slowly. As their fifth year progressed, James and Sirius found themselves sleeping apart more and more. As they kissed in the common room, Sirius noticed a tension bloom in James’s body, and when they pulled apart, he glimpsed long legs and red hair sweeping up to the girls’ dormitories. 

 

During breakfasts, Sirius noticed James’s focus drift over towards emerald green eyes and freckles, and for the first time since that first day on the train, Sirius was afraid. 

 

At first, the flirting was merely playful, or at least that's what James kept insisting, but Sirius noticed the pain flicker in his best friend’s eyes every time she turned him down, every time she insulted him. 

 

They stopped kissing in the common room and holding hands in the corridors, and the night James kissed Sirius quietly on the forehead and turned away, Sirius felt his heart break, and he knew it was over. 

 

They were just boys when they began realising the true magnitude of the war, but for Sirius, it was a way to forget. He encouraged James to seek his own happiness, for who knew how long they had? He hid his nightmares better, and looked forward to the nights they spent as their animal selves. 

 

Remus and Peter comforted Sirius in small, subtle ways, knowing any outward display of pity would make it worse, but in a way they were grateful, for the impenetrable bubble around James and Sirius had dissipated, and they were truly the Marauders now, undivided. 

 

Their last year of school was darkened by war, as students and parents alike were murdered, the class size thinning by the day. James and Lily were like a beacon of hope, of love discovered amidst chaos, and though every time he saw them hold hands in the corridors, or kiss in the common room, he felt a deep ache in his heart, Sirius wouldn't wish for it to be any other way. 

 

At their wedding, Sirius recounted tales of mischief when they had been just boys, numerous exploits involving the school suits of armour, and the one time they'd convinced Professor Slughorn that Minnie fancied him. He omitted stories of their nights spent together, fingers and lips tracing shapes on skin, but he met James’s eye and saw that he remembered, a touch of melancholy in that deep hazel gaze. 

 

When Sirius found him, those hazel eyes wide open and sightless, face down on the ground, it was as though his very soul had shattered into pieces, and all the love he'd ever felt flared up into an agonising rage, and his magic strained against the boundary of his will as he stormed into the cottage, murder in his heart. 

 

Until he heard Harry’s cry. 

 

Lily lay dead on the ground beside his crib, and the sight of her hair surrounding her pale face like the blood that wasn't there finally broke him, and he collapsed onto his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks, wetting his hair, his shirt, spilling onto the ground.

 

He had collected himself by the time Hagrid got there, and once he and Harry were gone, Sirius stood alone in the cottage where he'd last seen his best friend smile, knowing what he would do next. 

 

Soon, he was in Azkaban. Years later, he was dead, another casualty of the war that had taken so many. 

 

They were just boys who had their futures stolen, who'd loved and lost, but at least they'd had each other. 


End file.
